The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

One rainy afternoon on a city bus, Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany: "the days are long, but the years are short," she realized. She then dedicated a year to her happiness project, methodically test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. In this humorous chronicle "for those who generally loathe the self-help genre" (Cleveland Plain Dealer), she finds that novelty and challenge are powerful sources of happiness; that money can help buy happiness, when spent wisely; that outer order contributes to inner calm; and that the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference.

"A friendly, approachable, and compulsively readable narrative that will not only make you want to start your own happiness project but will also make you want to invite Rubin out for a cup of coffee."—San Diego Union-Tribune